James Cameron Says We 'Live In A Science-Fiction World'

James Cameron Says We 'Live In A Science-Fiction World'

'I don't draw a line between fantasy and reality,' 'Avatar' director says of taking same approach to film and space exploration.
By Kara Warner

With the theatrical re-release of "Avatar" — including a much-discussed nine extra minutes of footage that features an "alien kink" scene — just days away, MTV News recently conducted an interview with the Oscar-winning maestro himself, James Cameron.

So far the director has shared his thoughts on sending 3-D cameras (and people) to Mars, his wish list for future film technologies and revealed what other project might come before an "Avatar" sequel.

Given the filmmaker's unparalleled success in Hollywood and his project with NASA, we wondered if the prospect of changing the history of space exploration carries more weight for him than making the two most successful movies in history.

"I don't draw a line between fantasy and reality," Cameron told us. "To me, I love science fiction, but we kind of live in a science-fiction world right now. And I've done deep-ocean exploration. I've been in situations personally, for real, that I would have considered science fiction when I was younger."

Cameron added that he prefers to blur the lines between fact and fiction when it comes to the relationship between his films and the real world.

"For me, it's just a continuum between cinema, where we know kind of that it's a fantasy world, but it requires a lot of advanced engineering to create it," he said, comparing movies to the "real world of exploration, where it requires equally advanced, but very different technology to go do interesting and new extraordinary things."

Not surprisingly, Cameron said he happily moves between the two realities. "I'm comfortable in both worlds," he said.